When the New Horizons spacecraft flew by former
planet and now dwarf planet Pluto on July 14, our vision
of the entire solar system changed. Previously, we had
a photo of Pluto that was just a few pixels in size. Not
anymore. New Horizons has beamed high-resolution
photos down to Earth that expand our understanding
of the furthermost planet in the solar system. The first
website from ABC Australia includes a neat interactive that shows what New
Horizons saw from January 25, 2015 when it was 170 days away from its closest approach to Pluto, up until July 14, 2015, when it flew by the planet at its
closest distance. The interactive is followed by photos and over 10 additional
infographics. The website also includes three chapters: New insights into Pluto,
Journey to a New World and What we Know about Pluto. The second website
below from The Washington Post looks at New Horizons and the mission from
a more scientific and equipment-based approach. The site, which is laid out on
a black screen with neon colors, explains some of the instrumentation on New
Horizons and where and when it was used as the spacecraft approached Pluto.

In addition, the site explains all the scientific experiments that are occurring on
New Horizons. It is definitely something you should check out! (Photo: NASA)
● ABC Australia: www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-14/photo-of-pluto-from-new-
horizons/6620180

Anyone who’s ever noticed a
water puddle drying in the sun
has seen an environment that
may have driven the type of
chemical reactions that scientists believe were critical to the
formation of life on early Earth. New research demonstrates that
important molecules of contemporary life, known as polypeptides,
can be formed simply by mixing amino and hydroxy acids–which
are believed to have existed together on early Earth–then subjecting them to cycles of wet and dry conditions. The research
supports the theory that life could have begun on dry land,
perhaps even in the desert, where cycles of nighttime cooling and
dew formation are followed by daytime heating and evaporation.
Just 20 of these day-night, wet-dry cycles were needed to form
a complex mixture of polypeptides in the lab. The process also
allowed the breakdown and reassembly of the organic materials
to form random sequences that could have led to the formation of
the polypeptide chains that were needed for life.

The editors of LabOutlook scoured the Internet to find exciting, informative and visually stimulatingcontent for our readers. The links below will bring you to websites we deemed “Web WatchWorthy.” We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.